16/02/2018 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. Avid watchers of Weather For The Week Ahead

will know in recent days we've been talking about the upcoming arrival

of perhaps colder easterly winds. But, what do you know?

Some of the computer models have thrown a bit of a googly

and we might have to wait a little bit longer for those easterlies

to come our way, as I'll show you in a moment.

It's been chilly enough in recent days with this flow

of Atlantic westerlies coming into the UK.

For some during Thursday, there was a bit more snow to be had.

Hills of northwest England, Northern Ireland,

heavy snow showers into northwest Scotland,

whereas for many in the UK,

there was a return of some welcome sunshine,

and will be around again during Friday.

In fact, most places on Friday will be fine and dry.

There's a flow of air from the Atlantic,

but with high pressure bulging in from the south,

it does leave northwest Scotland on Friday

with further heavy snow showers.

Quite tricky over the higher routes, particularly during

the first part of the day, quite icy.

Icy too into Northern Ireland. Cloud will increase

to western areas as we go on through the day,

leaving the best of the afternoon's sunny spells

in the east, and after, a widespread frost to begin with.

Temperatures top out at around 7-10 Celsius.

Now, as we look at things

through Friday night and into Saturday,

this weather system just runs across northern parts of the UK.

A bit of rain, sleet and a bit of hill snow to be had.

Petering out during Saturday morning and we're left -

for northern England, Scotland, Northern Ireland -

with a scattering of showers, wintry on the hills.

Dry across southern parts here

with probably the best of the sunny spells.

The temperatures pretty similar. Still some just nudging

into double figures.

Saturday night and into Sunday,

another weak weather system working on through,

another one just edging towards the west later in the day.

That's a recipe for a bit more cloud

for part two of the weekend on Sunday,

to the north and west of the UK in particular.

It may be a bit damp and drizzly underneath that.

You see the land here,

the green land here towards the southeast.

That does mean probably still some sunny spells

to be had here.

There are a few more of us getting into double figures -

11 degrees in Belfast, for example, on Sunday.

Going into the start of next week,

it is a really quiet weather pattern across the UK.

So nothing happening very quickly,

but we're left with a lot of cloud on Monday.

Sunshine much harder to come by.

It's misty, there's hill fog around and it's still damp

and drizzly in some spots as well.

But it's a different feel out there. 10 degrees in Stornoway

and Aberdeen, so more of us getting into double figures.

And it looks like more of us, by Tuesday, with this quiet

weather pattern will actually start to see a bit more

in the way of sunshine, although by Tuesday,

temperatures may just come down a degree or so once again.

So a quiet start to next week.

It's beyond this stage, going deeper into next week

we were thinking high pressure would set up near Scandinavia

easterly winds could come in and they'd be quite cold,

but look at this. This is one possible suggestion

for the end of next week.

Low pressure, a deep area of low pressure

towards the northwest of the UK, wet windy weather coming in

with the Atlantic very much still in charge of our weather

with quite a mild flow, quite strong winds, particularly

across southern parts. No sign of that cold easterly wind.

So what does that mean for our weather next week?

Well, we've established that the half of the week,

pretty sure it'll be fairly quiet and milder.

Then there's that possibility, but it's far from set in stone,

that we'll see something wetter and windier for a time,

delaying the arrival of perhaps colder easterlies.

If this doesn't happen, and it yet may not,

then the easterlies may well come in at the end of next week.

You can see there's still a lot to play for,

but when it comes to those easterly winds,

it's still a case of when rather than if.